School board, public get details of plans for Huntsville Center for Technology

The Huntsville Center for Technology, pictured, is being considered for closure. If closed, the 17 programs at the tech center would be relocated to the city's high schools. (The Huntsville Times)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Revamping the Huntsville school district's career readiness program was once again the focus of discussion Thursday night, as the city school board heard details of plans for the Huntsville Center for Technology.

Though no decisions were made, Superintendent Casey Wardynski presented the board with his strategic plan for the district's career readiness program, with help from Center for Technology principal Shelton Cobb. The plan would move the majority of the technology center's programs into the high schools.

Cobb explained that the changes would be done in three phases, the first of which would keep eight programs at the technology center for the 2012-2013 school year. The first phase would put courses in health science, cosmetology and barbering, computer electronics, law and public safety and graphic arts programs into the high schools.

It would also include collaboration with local business and industry leaders, as well as local universities, on curriculum development.

The changes could also include a new name for the tech center -- the Academy for Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing.

The new superintendent found himself in hot water with Lee High School students and alumni last fall when he broached a name change to reflect Lee's upcoming merger with New Century Technology High. When the name was removed from Lee's new building under construction, it prompted students to walk out in protest. Wardynski soon had the name put back onto the building until a final decision on the name is made.

Wardynski pointed to New Century as a good example, as a school that blends traditional K-12 curriculum with technology, of how the district's career readiness program could become even more successful. Stewart Thorson, principal of New Century, told the school board that 100 percent of his students are enrolled in career readiness courses and that most graduate with six to eight credits in technology-related subjects.

About 80 percent of graduates go on to either a two-year or four-year college, and 70 percent select fields related to science and technology, Thorson said.

The board also heard about the success Grissom High School has had with its Project Lead the Way program, which offers courses in engineering and biomedical studies, emergency medical technician training and building science. June Kalange, Grissom's assistant principal, said enrollment in the program has grown from 11 to 250 students in just three years.

"Adding new courses next year, we anticipate that enrollment continuing to grow," Kalange said.

Wardynski said the plan to move the career tech courses to the district's high schools is based on two studies conducted in 2009 by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. One of those reports, geared specifically toward the Huntsville-Madison County area, found that test scores are higher "where vocational education is academically well-integrated, rigorous, relevant, and encourages relationships with adults in a workplace environment."

It also found that Madison County Schools' Career Technical Center was geographically isolated, a factor that deterred some students from participating in tech courses. PARCA recommended that vocational courses be deployed in Madison County high schools so students did not have to travel to one location.

Eddie Turner, former principal of the Center for Technology, said he had initially attended Thursday's meeting to oppose the plan to shut down the center. Hearing the plan, he changed his mind.

"If the plan is carried out how it has been described, I have no problem with it," Turner said.